Blogmas Day 5 isn’t necessarily all about e-learning; I just wanted to share some of the cooler things that I did in 2016. Not a full-on reflection of the year, but some highlights.
1 – Publishing Mastering Articulate Storyline
Mastering Articulate Storyline (click image to purchase) was definitely a labour of love that I was very relieved to complete. I contracted to write it before Articulate Storyline Essentials, and was in the thick of writing after my jaw injury and concussion, which made it incredibly difficult.
I was elated the day my publishers told me it was going to print, because I really wanted to get it out to the audience and share the experience. I highly doubt I will do anything nearly that cool in May 2017, but we’ll see!
2 – Experiencing Brene Brown
In May, I also attended ATD ICE, and Brene Brown was the primary keynote. I’ve read (and love and recommend to everyone) Daring Greatly and Rising Strong, and true to the impact she made on me while reading both books, she made an instrumental impact on me during her keynote. She gave an incredible talk, and I will forever cherish that moment.
3 – Breckenridge, Colorado
Prior to ATD ICE, my husband and I drove to Breckenridge, CO, to meet up with friends for a couple of days. Even after a 10 hour flight and 2 hour drive, Breckenridge is hands down one of the most beautiful places we have ever road tripped to. We had dinner and drinks with friends, got to hike a little bit (and that elevation…is REAL), and roamed around the cute little ski town in its off-season. Amazing!
4 – Becoming a Part-Time Professor
In July, the coordinator of graduate studies at our university pitched me to teach Introduction to Instructional Design for the M.Ed program we offer, so I applied, was awarded the position, and became a part-time professor.
It was an incredibly surreal experience – going from a fear of public speaking, to speaking at conferences, to giving a 2.5 hour lecture on something I’m most passionate about every week in front of a group of students. These opportunities have allowed me to grow so much!
I really enjoyed my experience, and I’ll certainly do it again if the opportunity presents itself, but it gave me greater context for how part-time faculty members feel and the process they undertake when awarded a teaching contract (usually only weeks before the course is in session). I feel like I can more effectively communicate with faculty members within my Instructional Developer role, and can be a bit more empathetic.
5 – Iceland
In September, my husband and I took a late honeymoon to Iceland. It was the most amazing place we have ever been, and if you haven’t gone…YOU MUST GO NOW! We stayed in Reykjavik, which was such a peaceful city…I had anticipated it being a lot busier and congested, but it wasn’t.
We had 4 excursions book: we went to the Blue Lagoon…which was beautiful, but the least exciting of places we went (super relaxing though!), then we went north, wandered a national park, saw some really cool geysers, and snowmobiled on a glacier; on the way back from the glacier, we stopped at Gullfoss waterfall…which was absolutely breathtaking. The next excursion was to see the northern lights by boat, but it got cancelled. We were exhausted from the snowmobiling though, so we weren’t too disappointed. Finally, we went south, visited a super dangerous beach, saw a bunch of waterfalls, hung out at a really cool museum, and tried many times to take selfies with the sheep.
We had the last day to ourselves, so roamed Reykjavik, got matching tattoos (of an Icelandic mountain range), and took a lot of photos of the enormous church in the middle of town. Iceland was hands down our best vacation, and if we travel anywhere in Europe or Scandinavia in the future, we’ll definitely fly Iceland Air and book a free stop-over.
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